http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09189/982508-100.stmWASHINGTON -- A former military prosecutor today told a congressional committee that the system of military commissions used to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay is "broken beyond repair" and should be abandoned altogether.
Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, an Army reservist from Erie, today told a House Judiciary subcommittee he became the seventh military prosecutor at Guantanamo to resign after becoming disillusioned by a system he says revealed itself in the case of detainee Mohammed Jawad.
Col. Vandeveld said Mr. Jawad, who was 16 at the time he was detained by U.S. forces, confessed under torture, twice attempted suicide, underwent abusive interrogations and never received evidence Col. Vandeveld said might have cleared him of accusations.
"In fact, the military had obtained confessions from at least two other individuals for the same crime," Col. Vandeveld told the committee.
...
Mr. Al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti citizen, had traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 when he was detained by Northern Alliance troops who handed him over to American troops in return for a cash reward.
"All the local warlords set out to do bounty hunts for Arabs that were in Afghanistan at the time," Col. Wingard said.
Col. Wingard said his client, the son of a wealthy Kuwaiti family, had traveled to Afghanistan to do charity work required of his Muslim faith. He said Mr. Al-Kandari was subjected to sleep deprivation and subjected to extreme cold while strapped naked to a floor at Guantanamo. Col. Wingard said his client was beaten with a chain.
"He was given the full works, an enhanced interrogation," Col. Wingard said.
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